Seen for the first time in January 2013.
"Eugenie de Sade" is Jess Franco at his sleazy, salacious best. This film stands out among Franco's oeuvre as one of the few made with seeming love and care, with scintillating eroticism and surreal villainy. At its most dramatic moments one wants to bust out laughing. It plays like a parody of drama, most reminiscent of certain moments from David Lynch's television show "Twin Peaks", particularly the fake soap opera "Invitation to Love".
But the thing about any Jess Franco film is that you're never quite sure how much you're laughing at it, and how much you're laughing with it. Whether Jess Franco is brilliant or if he's an incompetent hack. Probably he's been both in his career. "Eugenie De Sade" is no exception, but it's definitely among the films a person would cite to argue the man is in fact a brilliant artist. It's an engaging mix of the surreal and silly, dramatic and sleazy, and shows what Franco is capable of when inspired and in full use of his talents and effort.
Not that the movie isn't slow in parts. It's typical 70's exploitation in a lot of ways. The plot is ridiculously bad. The characters are grotesquely thin, and seemingly the whole thing is a weak pretext for making what is basically what would seem like little more than an obscene and creepy little movie in more routine hands. But in Franco's hands, it's a kind of masterpiece. Not a masterpiece for respectable audiences, maybe, but a masterpiece for the rare breed of grimy connoisseur, who looks for and finds art in the unlikely places, including the disreputable ones. Grade A.
Showing posts with label Jess Franco. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Jess Franco. Show all posts
Wednesday, January 30, 2013
Tuesday, January 15, 2013
The Girl From Rio - Jess Franco
Seen for the first time in January 2013.
I didn't know that I was going to be watching a Jess Franco film until I saw his name in the opening credits. This changed my expectations considerably, though perhaps it ought not to have, as "The Girl From Rio" is at the conventional end of the Franco spectrum without also being at the positive end of the qualitative spectrum. Though Franco's imprint is subtle, it is still definitely there.
Evidently this is an adaption of a Sax Rohmer story, about a sex-crazed villainess who wants to enslave all men. Like "Barbarella," it's more of a b-movie than any kind of exploitation movie - if we can draw a distinction between the two as a matter of genre than as a matter of production and marketing. Also, like "Barbarella," it's kind of boring.
The qualities that make a Franco film distinctive are somewhat lacking here. It's sensual without being smutty. There's no surrealism, nor any obvious incompetence. A reasonable amount of effort seems to have gone into making it. It is, to put it plainly, a very conventional bad movie that one could easily imagine leaving an audience of tasteful middle class adults bored yet not ashamed. This is not the sort of film that Franco is known for. At his best, he would leave that same audience either scandalized and corrupted or astonished that a movie that bad had ever been made.
Nonetheless, little touches bear the Franco imprint, e.g. awkward dubbed dialogue, an incoherent twist, etc. Franco is a frustrating film-maker. What makes him distinctive is hard to pin down, and his oeuvre is so vast and he's worked in so many different genres and styles with varieties of budgets and seeming effort on his part. A person is probably a lot better off if they dismiss him casually before they find themselves corrupted by one of his gems and find themselves wading in and sifting through more and more of his work in an effort to duplicate that initial experience. Though sometimes one is rewarded by finding another gem. Just not in this case. Grade C.
I didn't know that I was going to be watching a Jess Franco film until I saw his name in the opening credits. This changed my expectations considerably, though perhaps it ought not to have, as "The Girl From Rio" is at the conventional end of the Franco spectrum without also being at the positive end of the qualitative spectrum. Though Franco's imprint is subtle, it is still definitely there.
Evidently this is an adaption of a Sax Rohmer story, about a sex-crazed villainess who wants to enslave all men. Like "Barbarella," it's more of a b-movie than any kind of exploitation movie - if we can draw a distinction between the two as a matter of genre than as a matter of production and marketing. Also, like "Barbarella," it's kind of boring.
The qualities that make a Franco film distinctive are somewhat lacking here. It's sensual without being smutty. There's no surrealism, nor any obvious incompetence. A reasonable amount of effort seems to have gone into making it. It is, to put it plainly, a very conventional bad movie that one could easily imagine leaving an audience of tasteful middle class adults bored yet not ashamed. This is not the sort of film that Franco is known for. At his best, he would leave that same audience either scandalized and corrupted or astonished that a movie that bad had ever been made.
Nonetheless, little touches bear the Franco imprint, e.g. awkward dubbed dialogue, an incoherent twist, etc. Franco is a frustrating film-maker. What makes him distinctive is hard to pin down, and his oeuvre is so vast and he's worked in so many different genres and styles with varieties of budgets and seeming effort on his part. A person is probably a lot better off if they dismiss him casually before they find themselves corrupted by one of his gems and find themselves wading in and sifting through more and more of his work in an effort to duplicate that initial experience. Though sometimes one is rewarded by finding another gem. Just not in this case. Grade C.
Monday, December 10, 2012
Devil's Island Lovers - Jess Franco
Seen for the first time in December 2012.
There are many different types of Jess Franco movies and equally many different ways to enjoy them, but these are not on display in "Devil's Island Lovers." Or at least the version that I just watched, which was not dubbed but subtitled in Spanish and possibly a clean version. This is basically a straight women-in-prison film, but completely without exploitation. So this is Jess Franco making a relatively mainstream movie in the '70s. Literally anyone else could have made this movie. What we want out of a Franco film is something that only Jess Franco could have made, in one of the many ways that that is possible.
There is no avant garde here. No surrealism. No proto-Lynchian nonsense. No amusing, halfhearted incompetence. No exploitation. No sensuality. Nothing strange about this at all. Just a boring drama in a corrupt place, with guilt but no justice. Maybe it could have been a good noir in different hands. Grade D.
There are many different types of Jess Franco movies and equally many different ways to enjoy them, but these are not on display in "Devil's Island Lovers." Or at least the version that I just watched, which was not dubbed but subtitled in Spanish and possibly a clean version. This is basically a straight women-in-prison film, but completely without exploitation. So this is Jess Franco making a relatively mainstream movie in the '70s. Literally anyone else could have made this movie. What we want out of a Franco film is something that only Jess Franco could have made, in one of the many ways that that is possible.
There is no avant garde here. No surrealism. No proto-Lynchian nonsense. No amusing, halfhearted incompetence. No exploitation. No sensuality. Nothing strange about this at all. Just a boring drama in a corrupt place, with guilt but no justice. Maybe it could have been a good noir in different hands. Grade D.
Wednesday, November 21, 2012
The Awful Dr Orlof - Jess Franco
Seen for the first time in November 2012.
“The Awful Dr. Orlof” is early Jess Franco, when he was making are by today’s standards respectable b movies, and before he became one of the pioneers of euro-sleaze or developed a reputation as an effort-free hack in some circles and an surrealist, experimental film-maker in others. This is a traditional, old-school, b-movie horror, competently done. It’s kind of boring by today’s standards, assuming one doesn’t have an enthusiasm for 50’s black and white horror. Franco’s later, “The Diabolical Dr. Z” is better, and is evidence for the idea that Franco is a talented director. This is merely evidence that Franco is a capable director who could do more mainstream fare if given the opportunity and inclination. Grade B-.
“The Awful Dr. Orlof” is early Jess Franco, when he was making are by today’s standards respectable b movies, and before he became one of the pioneers of euro-sleaze or developed a reputation as an effort-free hack in some circles and an surrealist, experimental film-maker in others. This is a traditional, old-school, b-movie horror, competently done. It’s kind of boring by today’s standards, assuming one doesn’t have an enthusiasm for 50’s black and white horror. Franco’s later, “The Diabolical Dr. Z” is better, and is evidence for the idea that Franco is a talented director. This is merely evidence that Franco is a capable director who could do more mainstream fare if given the opportunity and inclination. Grade B-.
Thursday, August 30, 2012
Devil Hunter - Jess Franco
Seen for the first time in August 2012.
Jess Franco’s films can be judged along two axes. One, they can be judged on their eroticism. He was very prolific during the heydey of exploitation and even his films today still feature a heavy amount of nudity. They almost seem like they are the sort of movies that are made with complete prurient intent.
But they can also be judged on their uniqueness as Franco movies, which is a sort of cult movie or midnight movie. Similar to something like The Room, these films are notable for a very offbeat weirdness. The dialogue is dubbed, as was once common in european exploitation. The apparent inanity of the dialogue (or at least strange translation of it) along with the dubbing produces a very strange effect. Again this accounts for much of the weirdness in The Room as well, but unlike Wiseau, Franco has produced hundreds of films like this in all sorts of exploitation categories and believe it or not has developed in some circles a sort of reputation.
But to continue, characters in Franco movies don’t have conversations so much as they respond to the most immediate line of dialogue of the person they are speaking to, irrespective of the continuity of the conversation. Examples in Devil Hunter:
Jess Franco’s films can be judged along two axes. One, they can be judged on their eroticism. He was very prolific during the heydey of exploitation and even his films today still feature a heavy amount of nudity. They almost seem like they are the sort of movies that are made with complete prurient intent.
But they can also be judged on their uniqueness as Franco movies, which is a sort of cult movie or midnight movie. Similar to something like The Room, these films are notable for a very offbeat weirdness. The dialogue is dubbed, as was once common in european exploitation. The apparent inanity of the dialogue (or at least strange translation of it) along with the dubbing produces a very strange effect. Again this accounts for much of the weirdness in The Room as well, but unlike Wiseau, Franco has produced hundreds of films like this in all sorts of exploitation categories and believe it or not has developed in some circles a sort of reputation.
But to continue, characters in Franco movies don’t have conversations so much as they respond to the most immediate line of dialogue of the person they are speaking to, irrespective of the continuity of the conversation. Examples in Devil Hunter:
- Tell your friend that if he doesn’t show himself, I’m going to blow your head off.
- And if I don’t?
- I’m going to blow your head off.
- Alright…(pause)… Hey our friend says if you don’t come out he’s going to blow my head off.
OR
[Guy indicates he wants to trade money for hostage]
- You mean you want to make a trade?!?!?!?
- Not if I can help it.
- Oh. Why not then?
The helicopter pilot in this is particularly great for his strange accent and weird off-putting dialogue. But the weakness of this as a Franco film is that the content of the film places it squarely in the mondo-cannibal tradition. A film tradition that I have no enthusiasm for, nor does it seem to be a tradition, unlike say women in prison movies, that Franco enjoys himself. The inherent weakness of the genre is that the eroticism and the humor is undercut by the mutilation and the gore.
Nonetheless, the film does have some good eroticism. The most notable quality of Franco as a director is such that even in a 70’s-80s cannibal movie, he’s not going to destroy the pervy beauty of nubile nudity with the grossness and ugliness of too much blood and gore. Not to say that there isn’t blood and gore, but it never undercuts the pervy appeal of watching a Franco movie.
As a cult type movie, it is not as good as other Franco, hurt by cannibal genre conventions, but I would still score it a B+. As far as exploitation, I would also grade it a B+. A couple of naked blondes plus some naked tribal women. It’s well worth checking out, even as an intro to Franco, but it’s definitely not Franco’s best. Overall grade B+.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)